GREENBRIER, Alabama - Billy Mitchem, the warden at Limestone Correctional Facility since 2001, retired April 30 after 31 years with the Alabama Department of Corrections, The Athens News Courier reported.

Mitchem was a captain at the Capshaw prison from 1986 to 1994, served as director of the Decatur Work Release Center and was deputy warden at Donaldson Correctional Facility before returning to Limestone Correctional as warden in 2001, the newspaper reported. Friends and staff members hosted a retirement party for Mitchem Friday at Greenbrier Barbecue.

A timetable to name Mitchem's successor has not been determined, a prison spokesman said.